


'round and 'round (until we get it right)

by incandesolate



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-03 19:07:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14575659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incandesolate/pseuds/incandesolate
Summary: In all the fics, Sterek is endgame. But what if it wasn't?(Or, a bunch of universes in which Derek and Stiles don't get to be together, and one in which they do.No, this is not a 5+1 fic. Or at least, I don't think it is?)





	'round and 'round (until we get it right)

In all of the fics, Derek ends up with Stiles, and Stiles ends up with Derek. It's endgame, and it's inevitable, and it's perfect; and maybe they have their issues, and maybe they have obstacles to their happily ever after, but that's the thing — their happily ever after does happen.

But what if it didn't?

***

In this universe, Stiles does not jump out and startle Scott on the night when everything begins, nor does he bring news of the missing half of the dead girl. In this universe, they do not look for the girl's other half, and Stiles is not caught by his dad. In this universe, Scott is not left behind to be bitten by an alpha.

In this universe, Scott does not meet Derek, and they do not take down Peter together.

In this universe, Derek and Stiles do not meet, either.

No — in this universe, Derek is murdered by Peter when he gets too far in the way, and Peter is murdered by the Argents, and Scott retains his asthma and does not become captain of the lacrosse team — sorry, _co-_ captain. Stiles and Lydia don't get to be anything but loser and crush; and nobody realizes that werewolves are real. Jackson does not become the kanima, Kate remains alive, and Allison and Scott get to be together and stay together. Erica dies at some point, when a seizure arrives at an inopportune time, and no one mourns her. Isaac's father goes too far one day, and Isaac dies, too, with no one the wiser. Boyd commits suicide, too lonely, too sad, and no one cares.

And they all live — or die — blissfully unaware of the possibilities, of could-be's and what-if's.

***

In this universe, Stiles jumps out and startles Scott on the night when everything begins, and brings news of the missing half of the dead girl; but when caught by the Sheriff, Scott is caught alongside Stiles. No one is bitten by Peter, and no one is any wiser for it.

People die. Others live. Life goes on.

***

In this universe, Stiles and Scott look for the dead girl, and Scott is bitten by Peter.

In this universe, though, Scott refuses to trust Derek.

In this universe, they all die — Peter, Derek, half, or maybe even all of the Argents; Stiles, Scott, Erica and Isaac and Boyd; Lydia and Jackson and the Sheriff and Mrs. McCall and Deaton and _every. single. one of them._

In this universe, no one lives. No one is happy.

But death's not so bad, either, is it?

***

In this universe, Scott accepts Derek's help. In this universe, Scott accepts Derek, period.

In this universe, Scott and Derek become friends, the unfailingly loyal, die-for-you kind of friends; and because Scott and Stiles are a two-for-one deal, Stiles and Derek become friends, too.

That's all they are, though.

In this universe, everything happens the way things are meant to — Scott and Stiles save the day a million and one times over, and gain new friends along the way. They defend their territory. They form a pack. They help people, and save people, and they continue being idiots the way only Scott and Stiles can be.

In this universe, everyone who deserves to be happy is happy, and everyone who doesn't is either dead or perfectly fine anyway or somewhere out there, waiting to be exterminated the moment they set foot in Beacon Hills and threaten the people Scott and Stiles love.

In this universe, happily ever after takes the form of fights and rivalries and steady, bright, warm companionship — it takes the form of pack.

And that's a lot more than okay.

***

In this universe, Scott and Stiles trust. They befriend. They save.

In this universe, they are more than happy.

In this universe, they have  _pack_ and  _family_ and  _life_ , and everything is okay.

In this universe, Stiles falls for Derek — falls in love with Derek, falls hard and fast and unexpectedly. They could have had the kind of story bards write songs about and poets write epics about and authors write novels about — 

But then Derek rejects Stiles.

And Stiles — he  _pines_ , for years, the way he pined after Lydia. But just like with Lydia, he moves on.

After that, Stiles meets a boy with spiky hair and short, slightly stubby fingers and occasional bouts of depression — witty and smart and funny and unfailingly kind, who tries so hard to be strong, to be good enough, to be loved — who  _is_ strong, who  _is_ good enough, who  _is_ loved. Stiles falls for this boy, and maybe they wouldn't be put together in any other universe, but they're not in another universe — they're in  _this_ universe; and in this universe, they're good for each other. They're not perfect, and they're not always perfectly happy, but that's okay.

After all, happily ever after isn't always perfect, either.

They part on amicable terms, later on — maybe five or ten or even twenty years down the road, when they decide that they're still in love with each other, but dreams and joy are powered by more than just love.

In this universe, Stiles moves on. He falls in love, again and again and again.

He doesn't need Derek to be happy.

In this universe, Derek loses his happiness, and Stiles makes himself happy.

***

In this universe, Stiles and Derek meet through Scott, and love blossoms. In this universe, they get to be together, get each other.

In this universe, they don't fit.

In this universe, Stiles has had enough of caring more, of giving more than he gets. In this universe, Derek has too many problems, has too much emotional baggage, for  _Stiles and Derek_ to be a thing — to be  _enough_  — and in the end, Stiles leaves.

In the end, what was meant to be  _Stiles and Derek_ , what was meant to be  _love_ and  _Sterek_ and  _pack_ and  _happiness_  — it falls and crashes and shatters and burns, until all that's left is enmity and unhappiness and an empty, black pit where Derek used to be, where Stiles used to be — and neither of them are okay anymore.

In this universe, it turns out that happily ever after is not for werewolves, or humans who run with wolves, or banshees, or hunters, or any supernatural creatures — happiness is a  _lie_.

***

In this universe, Stiles and Derek — they work. 

In this universe, they are partners in every sense of the word. They are more than Stiles and Lydia ever were, ever could be, and infinitely more than Derek and Kate had been.

In this universe, they have each other. They fit together. They belong with each other.

They're happy — and that's all that matters.


End file.
